Chapter 11
"Adler, sir, with all due respect, why isn't the Bureau doing anything about the H.L.A threat?" Wolfram asked. "Shouldn't we be doing something about them rather than staying here at Beach City?"
"Wolfram, right now the United States need the Alloys here in case of another invasion attempt," Adler responded flatly.
"If the H.L.A could afford a second attempt at an invasion, they would have done so by now," Wolfram stated defensively. "Their war with Russia, Poland, and their goal at wiping out Gem ruins and artifacts have stretched their forces thin. If you let us warp in to the general center of their occupied territory, then we could-"
"You could what?!" Adler snapped hotly. "The only thing to find in their territory is nothing but ancient Cold War guilt. Until the Bureau gains more information, you are not to intervene."
"Maybe if we asked the Crystal-"
"Don't- you- say it!" Adler hissed venomously, furious that his proud leader of the Alloys would dare to ask inferior relics for help. "We don't need them mucking up our operations any more than they already do."
"But, sir-"
"You are dismissed, Wolfram!" Adler ordered firmly, ending the argument.
"Yes sir..."Wolfram stated with a defeated sigh.
He then tuned and exited Adler's office and slammed the door shut. Waiting outside of the office were the other three Alloys.
They had been listing to the argument through the door.
"No go, boss?" Titanium asked worriedly.
Wolfram shook his head. The Alloys all let out an irritated groan.
"Damn, I'm jonesing for some action!" Titanium exclaimed. "I'm getting' stir-crazy !"
"Stop your belly-aching!" Steel hissed bitterly. "You're starting to get on my nerves!"
"You just had to bring belly aches into this, didn't you?!" Titanium growled as he grasped at his stomach.
A low grumbling echoed from his stomach.
"Have you eaten today, Alloy?" Wolfram asked in a stern tone.
"No, it's weird and I don't like it!" Titanium snapped angrily, his empty stomach affecting his mood.
Wolfram grabbed Titanium by his scarf and pulled him so that they were inches away from each other.
"Our orders are to maintain a steady diet, that includes eating three meals every day," Wolfram stated in a threatening tone. "Do me and Iron need to force feed you again?"
Titanium practically deflated at the thought of being restrained and having oatmeal poured down his throat again.
And he knew Wolfram was not one to make idle threats.
"But...those Gems don't need to eat," Titanium answered nervously as his stomach growled. "Why do we need to?"
"Because we are not Gems, remember?" Wolfram responded. "We, as it turns out, need food."
"Enough about food!" Steel snapped loudly, ignoring the empty feeling in his own stomach. "What are we going to do about the H.L.A? If they can hold their own against Russia and Poland, then who's to say they couldn't do the same with the US?"
Wolfram agreed with Steel fully, but Adler was too...troubled to see this possibility.
He had ordered the Alloys not to interfere with the situation until given the order to do so.
But Wolfram feared that if they waited too long, then no amount of protocol would be able to fix the H.L.A problem.
And with the US not wishing to get involved militarily, it left them without many options.
They were going to need help from people outside of the Bureau, people they could trust or in a worst case scenario use.
"Go collect your auxiliary weapons from the armory and meet me outside," he ordered. "I've got a plan."
Steven and Amethyst were lounging out on the patio trying to get the whole situation with the H.L.A off of their minds. Amethyst was folding paper airplanes and launching them into the air. Steven yawned and stretched. He still loved the beach and the ocean. If he could, he would stay out there all day.
He then noticed that his stomach was grumbling.
"I'm hungry," he stated as he hopped up out of his lawn chair. "I'm gonna grab some pizza."
Amethyst grinned and hopped up.
"I'm in, anything to get away from this place," she said with her usual fun filled laugh. "I'm sure Garnet and Pearl can handle things while we're gone."
Amethyst grabbed a hold of Steven, lept into the air, and made their way to the Fish Stew Pizza shop.
As the two looked down onto the city, they could still see traces of the failed invasion littering the city.
Most of the more hazardous materials had already been disposed of, but a few tanks and craters could still be seen.
"Man, they sure did a number on the city," Amethyst stated in a remorse tone. "Reminds me of the first time we fought against those hot head Burners with your mom."
"Garnet told me about that," Steven responded as he clung to Amethyst. "Did the old Burners wreck the city this badly back then?"
"No, they wrecked it even worse," Amethyst sighed as they hurtled to the ground. "But, I guess that's because the False Gem was givin' em' orders, and not these H.L.A noobs."
With a loud thud, Amethyst's feet hit the ground a block away from the Fish Stew Pizza shop.
Amethyst chuckled as she remembered the time Garnet destroyed the Fish Stew Pizza shop sign.
It had since been repaired, but she still thought it was funny.
As the two headed towards the pizza shop, they could hear the loud, Ghanaian accented voice of the store's owner Kofi.
Much to Steven and Amethyst's surprise, he was yelling his lungs out at the four Alloys.
"What part of 'we are closed' do you not understand?!" he shouted angrily at Titanium.
"The whole concept!" Titanium responded loudly. "We are offering you money! So why wont you serve us?!"
"Are you completely blind?!" Kofi shouted as he pointed up at his sign.
Jammed into the side of the shop's sign was the wreckage of the gunship that Titanium had downed during the invasion attempt, barely held in place by a few cables and bent metal pipes.
"Oh, that...right. Iron fix this," Titanium ordered as he pointed at the gunship.
Iron reached up and grabbed the tail of the eighteen-hundred pound helicopter and lifted it off of the building. He shifted his body and then hurled it out into the sea. With a splash of white foamy water, the helicopter began to sink. Suddenly, one of the unexploded rockets detonated and destroyed the helicopter in a huge ball of flames.
"Fixed it..." Iron said happily. "Pizza time?"
Kofi was shocked at the nonchalant show of might that he had just witnessed. But his shock turned back into anger as there was still a huge hole in his ceiling.
"You call that fixing it?" he asked, shaking with anger. "You fixed nothing! Who is going to pay for the damages?!"
"Having sign problems again, Kofi?" Amethyst asked obnoxiously as she and Steven approached.
"Not now, Amethyst !" Kofi exclaimed as he glared up at the stoic Alloy Wolfram. "I can't afford to deal with you Gems and these-these-"
"Alloys," Wolfram stated flatly.
"I don't care! You animals are banned from Fish Stew Pizza!" Kofi exploded angrily.
Steel shoved past Wolfram and grabbed Kofi by the cuff of his shirt and lifted him up off the ground.
"What did you just call us?" he hissed hatefully as his clawed gauntlet formed around his hand.
He raised the razor sharp blades up to Kofi's face. Kofi's eyes were wide with terror as he stared at the gleaming blades that were only inches from his mouth.
"Animals, are we?" Steel spoke coldly. "Well this animal is very, very hungry. Now get back into your little kitchen and make us some damned food. It's the least you could do for us after we saved this pitiful city."
"Put him down, Steel," Wolfram ordered firmly as he placed his hand on Steel's shoulder. "This is your only warning."
Steel scowled and dropped Kofi on the ground. Kofi crawled away from the Alloys and pushed himself off the ground. He was trembling and sweating profoundly.
"F-four e-extra fishy pizzas, c-c-coming right up." he stammered with absolute terror in his voice.
Amethyst and Steven stared as Kofi scrambled back into the ruins of his shop.
"That-that was pretty mean, guys," Steven stated, feeling bad for Kofi. "I know he's a bit of a hot head, but did you have to scare him like that?"
Wolfram curled his fist an slugged Steel right in the back of his head.
"Ow, dammit!" Steel cursed as he gripped his head in pain.
"The next time you pull shit like that again I'll-"
"Hey, is your friend okay?" Amethyst asked as she pointed to Iron
The colossal Alloy was pressing his hands against the sides of his helmet like he was trying to cover his ears.
He started to grunt and groan as if something was hurting him.
Titanium hopped up onto Iron's back and started whispering calming words into his helmet.
Slowly Iron began to calm down and sat down on the ground with a loud thud.
"Take it easy, big guy," Titanium cooed softly as he patted Iron's head. "We're all friends here, no more yelling."
Iron fell silent as he sat on the ground, visibly calmer. Titanium hopped off of Iron's back and walked up to Wolfram and Steel.
"You guys know he doesn't like it when we fight," Titanium hissed in a hushed but fierce tone.
"Does he do that often?" Amethyst asked as she approached the docile giant.
"No, he only does that if he is being made fun of, or if we start fighting with each other," Wolfram stated with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "It's a long story."
Steven felt both sorry and confused. He understood the not wanting to watch your friends fight part, but didn't understand what sane person would make fun of an eight foot tall armored colossus wielding a sledgehammer.
"Aww, poor guy..." Amethyst sighed as she patted him on the knee.
"Amethyst, Steven!" a familiar voice cried out.
Steven and Amethyst both spun around and saw that Garnet and Pearl were rushing over to them.
"Sup, guys?" Amethyst asked. "Welcome to our little unplanned pizza party."
Garnet and Pearl stopped and cautiously approached the two once they notice that the Alloys were there as well.
"We heard an explosion and came to investigate the cause," Garnet stated flatly.
"It was just some junk left behind from that botched invasion," Amethyst responded nonchalantly.
Pearl opened her mouth to speak but her mind drew a blank when she saw Kofi shambling out of the store with four boxes of pizza. He was shaking and appeared to have been crying.
"H-here, four extra fishy pizzas...on the house," he whimpered like a wounded animal.
He handed the pizzas over to Wolfram and then retreated back into his store.
"What was that all about?" Pearl asked with concern. "I've never seen him so...scared."
Pearl's question was not answered as the boxes of pizzas were all that the Alloys were focusing on.
"Food time," Iron said happily as he grabbed a slice from his box.
Without thinking, Iron attempted to eat the fishy pizza, but he smashed it all over the face cover of his helmet. Pearl giggled and tapped him on the knee.
"Raise you face guard, silly," she said with a smile.
With a tiny squeak of worn metal, Iron lifted his face guard. Even with his face unguarded, not much of his face could be seen.
"Thanks, lady," Iron said with a subtle warmth in his voice.
"Please, call me Pearl," she corrected.
"Thanks, Pearl," Iron responded.
Pearl still didn't understand anything about the Alloys, but Iron was the only one of them she had interacted with.
It seemed odd to her that while Iron was physically much superior when compared to his comrades, mentally, he seemed to struggle.
It was like he had the mind of a six year old child. This was very puzzling as none of the other Alloys seemed to suffer from any mental disorders.
Garnet, on the other hand, was a bit concerned. Crystal Gems did not need to eat or drink to survive. But, something about the Alloys' need to felt eerily familiar.
She decided to worry about this fact later. Right now, the Gems needed to return to the temple.
"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven," Wolfram stated flatly, breaking Garnet from her thoughts. "There are matters at hand that I wish to speak with you about."
The Gems all gave each other confused looks.
"We really should be getting back to the temple..." Pearl responded as she slowly hid behind Garnet.
"It's about the H.L.A," Wolfram stated firmly.
This caught Garnet's attention.
"What about them?" she asked flatly.
"You know where their base is, don't you?" Wolfram asked as he crossed his arms.
Garnet remained as stoic as ever. She didn't know if Wolfram actually knew that she knew the location, or if he had taken a shot in the dark.
Either way, he hit the mark.
"Maybe..." she responded. "Why?"
Wolfram took a moment to look around, as if paranoid that someone might be listening in.
He then motioned for Garnet to lean closer. He cupped his mouth and whispered.
"We want to help."
"Why?" Garnet asked. "Shouldn't the Bureau be handling this on their own?"
Wolfram shook his head and sighed in frustration.
"The Bureau doesn't believe that the H.L.A pose an immediate threat to the US," he stated bitterly. "But we both know that is a load. If they have Gem technology, then they pose a threat to the globe. We can't simply sit around and wait for the terrorist to make the first move."
"How is any of this our problem?" Garnet asked coldly.
"Please, we both know what Burners mean," Steel said with a small smile.
He glanced over at Steven and then to Pearl.
"I'm sure that we don't need to remind you who created them originally," he hissed. "Good job killing her by the way."
Pearl's blood ran cold as images of Geissel's smiling face flashed in her mind.
All that fury, all that hate, all that lust and hunger, she doubted that anyone could create something of her level of evil.
But if there was the slightest chance that someone could have, then the entire world was in danger.
Something with Geissel's level power could not possibly be contained by humans.
"Fine, what do you want?" Garnet relented.
"As I said, we, the Alloys, want to help," Wolfram stated calmly. "The Bureau doesn't know what we have planned yet, and I'd like to keep it that way for now."
Garnet looked over at the rest of her team. While Garnet knew that the Gems could assault the H.L.A base on their own, they wouldn't be able to fight against the human militants. The Remnants would be in the same position as them. But the Alloys, they could and have killed human aggressors without hesitation. She didn't like it, but Garnet knew that this ability would be needed if they were to attack the H.L.A base. If there was a silver lining in this situation, it was that the Alloys had proved to her that they truly wished to protect humanity, even to the point of going behind their handler's back.
"So, what do you say?" Wolfram stated as he held out his hand. "Partners?"
Garnet was silent for a moment. She then took his hand and shook it.
"Until the H.L.A is dealt with," she said with a calm yet firm tone.
"This is just so touching, but that still makes it eight against God knows how many tanks, gunships, militants, and Burners the H.L.A have," Titanium exclaimed.
Pearl smiled and crossed her arms. She knew just what to do and who to call on.
"Garnet, I think it's time we invited the Remnants over for some tea."
Amethyst rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Let's hope this tea party ends up better than the last one did."
